On Friday, June
14th I attended the third installation of the Battle of the Sexes—Toronto
Edition. The event was held at The Arta Gallery located at 55 Mill Street, in
the heart of the distillery district downtown Toronto. The gallery is well
known for its exhibits of art work from nationally and internationally known
artists, as well as its loft-style decor that creates an upscale, cultured
kind of vibe.
Upon entering
the venue we were greeted by a bevy of caterers who were ready with wine and
hors d’ouerves. It was a very welcoming atmosphere to say the least. This
really helped to set the tone for the media hour that was great for mixing and
mingling with the panelists and organizers before the discussion got underway.
Guests had an
opportunity to check out the some of the vendor booths set up throughout the venue.
Vendors included everything from kinky toys to hair supplies to jewelry. Some
of the sponsored vendors were Ne Plus Ultra 100% Remy Hair Extensions, The
Diana Tracy Collection and Live It Up In Style. I found the vendor booths added
a nice interactive touch to the event, particularly in the pre-media hour.
After getting
comfortable with my first glass of wine I had an opportunity to speak with the
beautiful event creator and host, Telisha Ng.
Having been to similar events that involved open forum discussions I
wanted to pick Telisha’s brain to find out what I could expect differently from
BOTS.
Telisha spoke very
candidly about the importance of creating a dialogue, not only within
relationships, but particularly within the black community. While the theme for this edition of the event
was “Love and Finances”, Telisha feels that BOTS offers more than just themed
discussions. She emphasized how important it is to keep these kind of
conversations going (which I couldn’t agree more). She added, “These are
conversations you might have with a co-worker at Starbucks, but we need to be
able to have these conversations anywhere”.
Another element that BOTS offers is its ever-changing group of
panelists. Of her A++ panelists, which included blogger Lincoln Anthony Blades,
small business consultant Mariah Giscombe, community activist Nigel Birch, and
reality starlet Honey Lou, Telisha says she enlisted people she admires that are
either very outspoken or very outgoing—people
that could surely bring “fresh perspectives” to the discussion.
I had an
opportunity to speak with a few of the panelists during media hour and also
listened to them articulate their opinions during the panel discussion and I
would have to say Telisha chose wisely!
Nigel Birch
website creator IntelSwagga (multipurpose site that hosts events and creates
apparel) feels that BOTS serves the community through empowerment by creating a
dialogue. People engage in intellectual conversation and network.
Lincoln Blades
blogger/author of ThisIsYourConscience.com serves as a panellist for the 5th
time. As the only panelist that has been part of BOTS in Canada and the US, he
points out the difference between the only Canadian stop and its US
counterparts is that Toronto is quite new to having these kind of conversations
in this kind of manner. He feels that in the US cities conversations on relationships,
love and money occur in very open formats such as barbershops, salons, in grocery
store lines, etc. “Toronto is coming along in that respect, but an event like
BOTS helps to develop the community”. On the topic of love and money he
stresses the importance of changing the dynamic in relationships to make it
work throughout difficult economic periods.
Mariah
Giscombe, entrepreneur of Mgsquared.ca is a small business consultant and young
entrepreneur. Mariah came armed with
economic statistics to represent for the females and to enlighten the crowd. Mariah
was quick to stress that divorce is a major source of poverty amongst women.
She stressed the importance of “having your own” when entering a relationship.
The discussion
began around 10pm opening to the heated topic of “dating in the recession”.
Telisha asked her panelists how the recession affected dating? Nigel was the first to offer that there are
actually more marriages now than ever before and the convenience of
cohabitating.
Honey Lou says
the recession has made more women less independent.
Lincoln Blades
stirred things up with the implication that people were not being realistic
during the recession and that dating ideologies have not changed during this
time when they clearly should. “If Red
Lobster is not good enough for you on the first date then you can go to hell!” was
a memorable quote from Blades, that had definitely got the audience riled up.
Mariah Giscombe
countered by saying that men needed to be more creative with dating during the
recession.
The night
continued on with lots of energy from the panellists and crowd and was capped
off with an amazing swag bag filled with tons of samples from many of the
vendors.
Overall I had
an amazing time and of course the car-ride home was filled with more debates on
the night. It was amazing! A second Toronto edition is in the works and I
highly recommend you be in attendance if you’ve never been before!
If
you were at Battle of the Sexes Toronto what did you take away from the
discussion? What were some of the highlights of the event for you? Who was your
favourite panelist?
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